Escambia County is installing chick crossing signs at a bird nesting area near the LandShark Landing bar and restaurant at Margaritaville Beach Hotel.

This is one of many measures Escambia County, Audubon Florida and the National Seashore are taking to step up efforts to protect nesting shorebirds and their chicks.

The nest on Fort Pickens Road is being monitored by Audubon of Florida, and is vulnerable to heavy foot and vehicle traffic in the busy commercial district of Pensacola Beach.

Federally listed threatened skimmers and least terns are nesting in this area.

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In an ongoing effort to rally public support to help in the protection of nesting and baby shorebirds, the National Seashore is offering "Save a Chick. Drive 20 mph" car magnets and stickers to the public.

It's part of a new campaign to get the public to buy in on conservation efforts, said Susan Teel, the seashore's chief of resource education.

Visitors who want to be citizen conservationists may also put a "pace car" bumper sticker on their vehicles, similar to the ones seashore rangers recently began using. The sticker with a National Park Service logo and the park's new iconic baby chick figure states: "Shorebird Area — 20 mph. Pace vehicle, do not pass."

These new tools are meant to help cut down on the number of motorists who ignore the reduced speed limit and tailgate and zoom around visitors and rangers who are adhering to the slower speed through nesting sites in the Fort Pickens, Santa Rosa and Perdido Key areas of the seashore, said Jeff Massey, shorebird ranger.

He, too, is part of the new shorebird public educational outreach program.

"What that entails is educating the public on the resources we have at the seashore," he said. "We have three threatened shorebirds that use this as a habitat for breeding. They do it seasonally from around March to September."

The measures to protect the black skimmers, least terns and snowy plovers are meant to keep them from becoming endangered.

Massey and an Audubon partner spend their days talking to park visitors about the birds and alerting them to the fact that unlike most birds, shorebirds nest on the beach, near roads, parking lots and paths, making them vulnerable to foot and vehicle traffic.

"As we meet the public, we're getting a lot of interest," he said. "There's ignorance there. They are not taught well about the shorebirds. When we start talking to them, they open up and see how fragile the ecosystem is, how fragile the shorebirds are."

Those who show a special interest are offered the stickers or magnets.

Anyone who wants to be a shorebird ambassador for the park or serve as a pace car during visits may arrange to pick up stickers or magnets from the seashore's Naval Live Oaks headquarters in Gulf Breeze, he said.

"Shorebirds are national treasures," he said. "They give the seashore value."